In a lot of ways, a trip down Old Hillsboro Road in the heart of this unincorporated town eight miles west of Franklin is like driving back in time.

Buildings with tin roofs and rows of front porches with rocking chairs face one another across narrow side streets, and residents greet visitors with a wave.

The village's past

But on this particular day in late April, Anderson, a Leiper’s Fork native, watched production assistants haul away a faux cactus and a wooden wagon from a two-day shoot for the television show “Nashville.” It was another example of the sleepy hamlet’s rising profile.

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A horse gazes on a farm on Old Hillsboro Road in Leiper's Fork.
Leiper's Fork is an unincorporated rural village in Williamson County, Tenn.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

“You just imagine a small town out in the middle of nowhere that nobody really notices,” Anderson said. “Then, the next time you turn around, it’s one of the hottest places to live.”

Founded in 1968, The Country Boy was once the town’s central hub — the building had a laundromat on one side, a restaurant on the other and a hair salon in the basement. Even in the '80s, most of the town's residents drew Social Security.

“It was just like moving to a bygone era.”

John Talbot

But in the 1990s, a steady trickle of affluent residents moved in, attracted by rolling hills and small-town charm — an oasis a 40-minute's drive from Nashville. Homes were purchased and renovated, businesses were opened and the town became a haven for artists and creatives who'd never previously known the town existed.

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Melba Thomason, Hazel Amrstrong, and Mary Raymer work on a quilt at the Hillsboro Senior Center in Leiper's Fork. The group of quilters have been meeting once a week for over 20 years.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

The perception of Aubrey Preston

Most of the change came with the vision of Aubrey Preston.

In 1991, Preston, then in his early 30s, was just back from Denver, when he found Leiper's Fork by accident. The real estate developer from East Tennessee was on a drive through the countryside on Old Hillsboro Road when he came upon what he said looked like a ghost town, a smattering of old buildings barely standing.

In Leiper's Fork, he could see two futures.

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Leiper's Fork resident and preservationist Aubrey Preston discovered Leiper's Fork by accident in 1991. Preston, just back from Denver, was on a drive through the countryside on Old Hillsboro Road in when he came upon what he said looked like a ghost town, a smattering of old buildings barely standing.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean)

“I’d seen how sought-out little villages with land had become in places like Aspen and Telluride, and I’d seen those places have their land and culture scorched to build something with no resemblance to it," Preston said one afternoon in his renovated RCA Studio A in Nashville.

The other option was preservation with a close proximity to progress.

“If you just drift and trust whatever, generally good things will not happen to your quality of life,” he said. “840 was coming behind us and there was a possibility that there would be an exit and everything would be gone.”

Preston purchased 200 acres on both ends of town and placed the property into a land trust and invited others to do the same. Preston wasn't just selling land, he was selling investors on the jewel Lieper's Fork could become — if they could build a barrier to unwanted development.

His efforts started a movement.

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Bikers ride past scenic farmland on Old Hillsboro Road in Leiper's Fork on Friday, May 11, 2017.
Leiper's Fork is an unincorporated rural village in Williamson County, Tenn. The rural area and the Natchez Trace Parkway is a popular with bikers.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

Since then 115,000 acres have been purchased and placed in land trusts, and 345 preservation easements have been established.

“This created a cultural renaissance I didn't expect,” he said. “It brought in artists and people who cared, like Charlie and Shannon Martin and Andy Marshall and others, who invested heavily in the town during the Great Recession."

Changing times

Looking out at the production assistants packing their gear, Anderson said growth and change has two sides.

“I get to work a mile down the road from where I live and make a living," she said. "But at $35,000 per acre and a five-acre minimum, few people can afford to live where they grew up and went to school if their families sold the farm.”

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A tractor shares the road with cars on Old Hillsboro Road in Leiper's Fork on May 11, 2017.
Leiper's Fork is an unincorporated rural village in Williamson County, Tenn. (Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean )

But Anderson and others are forming relationships with the newcomers.

Across the street from The Country Boy, John and Talbot Grimm, who now own the Copper Fox, a fine crafts gallery, moved to town three summers ago from Westchester County, N.Y., after one of their children started attending the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.

“It was just like moving to a bygone era,” said John Grimm. “There were two things that kept us coming back: the friendliness and the beauty of how well it was preserved. We didn’t know a soul.”

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Rachael McCampbell,right, and her friend Leslie Satcher prepare food for a "creek party" hosted by McCampbell for her friends in a creek behind her Leiper's Fork home last summer. Outdoor chairs and tables were placed in the middle of the creek.(Photo: Shelley Mays/The Tennessean)

Mike Davis, also known as "Goose," Davis is seen as the unofficial mayor of the town and he holds court daily underneath an umbrella at Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant there.

He's found a place welcoming newcomers and showing them the town’s trademark hospitality.

“Things don’t tend to stay the same and a lot of times they change for the worst, and if you want them to stay the stay the same for the good, you’d better have vision and know-how, and if you want to know about that you’d better talk to Aubrey Preston.”

Hannah Claire Fisher, 13, and her brother Charlie, 7, look for critters in a creek during a gospel sing-along in Leipers Fork on the last day of the Americana Experience, a 10-day music event in Franklin.
Hannah Claire Fisher,13, and her brother Charlie,7, look for critters in a creek during a Gospel Sign-A-Long in Leipers Fork, Tenn. on the last day of the Americana Experience, which was a 10-day music event in Franklin, TN. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Jimmy Gentry, Ali Binch and Mike “Goose” Davis joke around in front of Pucketts Grocery in Leipers Fork on Thursday, May 10, 2017. Pucketts Grocery in Leipers Fork opened in 1953.
Leiper's Fork is an unincorporated rural village in Williamson County, Tenn. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Melba Thomason, Hazel Amrstrong, and Mary Raymer work on a quilt at the Hillboro Senior Center in Leiper's Fork. The group of quilters have been meeting once a week for over 20 years.
Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Dylan McDonald of Leiper's Fork, son of vocalist Michael McDonald, celebrates the release of his first album on Saturday Oct. 30, 2010 at Puckett's in Leiper's Fork. His band is called The Avians. Shelley Mays, Shelley Mays

Live music has returned to Leiper's Fork. Don Sauter,67, tunes his flattop guitar before going on stage while his neighbors Mac and Shirley McCartney eat catfish and white beans during Open-Mike Writer's Night at the Country Boy Restaurant in Leipers Fork in 1996 Shelley Mays, Copyright 1996 The Tennessean;Yes Tennessean

Leipers Fork resident Laurie Wheeler and her band rehearses for the Franklin Jazz Festival at Hillsboro School in 1996. Laurie's husband and band member Rick Wheeler plays the guitar in background. Shelley Mays, Copyright 1996 The Tennessean;Yes Tennessean

An "Elf-Moblie" passes by the Country Boy Resturant with the six Toy Soldiers mounted on Icelandic horses flowing behind at the
the 7th Annual Leiper's Fork Christmas Parade on Dec. 18, 2010. Shelley Mays, Shelley Mays

Leiper's Fork resident Arnold Hendricks listen to community members speak during a hearing regarding State Route 840 at Hillsboro School in 1996. Shelley Mays, Copyright 1996 The Tennessean;Yes Tennessean

RJ Roots rides his horse past a group of Mini Coopers in downtown Leipers Fork. The village hosted a launch party for the 2012 Mini Cooper coupe in September 2011. Shelley Mays / The Tennessean, Shelley Mays

Franklin Polo Club members Buzz Welker,left, and Mary Ellen Clinton play a match of polo along with other members in field in Leipers Fork off Old Hillsboro Rd. Shelley Mays, Copyright 1996 The Tennessean;Yes Tennessean

A wagon train departed Leipers Fork for a 16-mile trek to Columbia for the annual Mule Days celebration.
For three days 45 covered wagons pulled by mules traveled the route of the Old Tennessee Settlers to Soldiers Trail. This is the 15th year for the wagon train which has previous camped and plodded through many Tennessee towns including Waynesboro, Lynchburg, Fayetteville and cities near Columbia. Shelley Mays, Shelley Mays

A wagon train departed Leipers Fork on Monday for a 16-mile trek to Columbia for the annual Mule Days celebration. The wagon train stop for a water and bathroom break along a rural Williamson County road.
For three days 45 covered wagons pulled by mules traveled the route of the Old Tennessee Settlers to Soldiers Trail. This is the 15th year for the wagon train which has previous camped and plodded through many Tennessee towns including Waynesboro, Lynchburg, Fayetteville and cities near Columbia. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean

Rachael McCampbell,right, and her friend Leslie Satcher prepare food for "creek party" hosted by McCampbell for her friends in a creek behind her Leiper's Fork home last summer. Outdoor chairs and tables were placed in the middle of the creek. Shelley Mays/The Tennessean